Continuing on from yesterday's post, after our flight to Everest we were delivered back to our accommodation at the beautiful Dwarika Hotel. It’s olde world charm is stunning and we had time to walk around the hotel and take in the beauty before we were once again back in our little bus for a full days touring of Kathmandu. Our local guide’s name is Ram and he is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about Nepal. His family are a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist but he told us he leans towards Buddhism.
Our first place to visit was the quaint little Toran Restaurant for lunch. We were served three courses of western style food that was really quite delicious. It was washed down with a GLASS BOTTLE of Fanta! I can’t remember the last time I have seen bottled Fanta.
After lunch we wandered around the medieval township and World Heritage listed Patan. There is an incredible amount of restoration work going on all over Kathmandu after the earthquake in April 2015 that killed almost 9,000 people. It was a magnitude 8 earthquake that lasted one whole minute. I remember very well the images that came out of Nepal at the time. It left 3.5 million homeless.
We continued our wandering through Durbar Square with its ancient temples and we visited the Patan Museum that the Austrian Government has restored to it’s former beauty. The museum is home to a stunning bronze collection that I would have liked more time to study.
After the museum we were taken to a local Newari family for a cup of tea. It was a welcome relief to sit down for a little time and talk to the lady of the house about her life. The home was four stories high but quite small. The kitchen for some reason was on the top floor and I marvelled at how she negotiated the small staircase with a tray of tea and biscuits!
The next place we visited was home to the Living Goddess. I’m not sure how I feel about the little Goddess and I am reading a book about it to try and understand. But basically astronomers get together to find the perfect goddess using their astological charts. Once she is chosen she is a goddess until she bleeds. She is not allowed to go outside because if she stumbled and cut herself and bled she would no longer be a goddess. We all took turns at kneeling in front of the goddess so that she could bless us with the red chalk dot. She doesn’t speak to us but if she did, only then could you speak to her.
We again assembled and it was time for a singing bowl demonstration that was very interesting and then on to Thangka painting school we I purchased one of the Mandala’s. I have tried to draw a Mandala but I gave up as it is a very precise process. The masters draw the Mandala and then the artists come to the workshop to paint them. The three dimensional paintings are beautiful pieces of artwork.
Time to get back on the bus for the short journey to Thamel that is a world address for international trekkers, mountaineers and shoppers looking for a bargain. We walked the streets for sometime before the bus once again picked us up to take us to Sam's One Tree Cafe for dinner and drinks. It was another delicious three course meal. The spicy potato wedges that we had for starters were just what my taste buds needed as I have found that my lingering cold has taken away all of my appetite.
Back in our hotel room it was a welcome relief to fall into bed. Ram assured us it would be a less hectic schedule tomorrow!
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